Combined exerciser and weighing-scale



C. A. PERRY.

COMBINED EXERCISER AND WEXGHING SCALE.

' APPLICATION FILED AUG-7. 1920.

1,396,524. Patented 192.1.

4/ a 0301mm AM k g A TTOHIVE Y UNITED STATES CLARENCE A. PERRY, OF FOREST HILLS, NEW YORK.

COMBINED EXERGISER AND WEIGHING-SCALE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 8, 1921.

Application filed August 7, 1920. Serial No. 401,936.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE A. PERRY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Forest Hills, county of Queens, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Exercisers and Weighing-Scales, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to exercising apparatus and is herein disclosed asapplied to that class of apparatus sometimes referred to as health-lifts.

One object of my invention is to provide means for readily varying the mechanical advantage of such apparatus for the purpose of making it available for a wide range of lifting exercises.

Another object is to provide an exercising apparatus comprising a combined weighing, lifting and indicating mechanism of simple. inexpensive, durable construction, and which will be of comparatively small weight and small bulk.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, embodying a form of my apparatus, in which:

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a combined exercising and weighing apparatus embodying my invention; and

Fig. 2 represents on an enlarged scale a sectional view of the lifting mechanism of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, taken on the line 22.

Fig. 8 represents a view on an enlarged scale, showing the construction and arrangement of levers, connecting the lifting, weighing and indicating mechanism.

In the drawing 10 represents the platform or base upon which the operating parts of apparatus are mounted, and is provided with rollers 11, to enable it to be moved from place to place readily. Mounted upon the platform 10 at the left hand end, as shown in Fig. 1, is a weighing mechanism generally indicated by 12, and at the right hand part of the platform 10 is located the lift applying mechanism 13. Extending upwardly between said weighing mechanism 12, and said lift applying mechanism 13 is the vertical rectangular upright boxing 13', carrying the 1ndicating mechanism 14. l

The platform 10 and the fulcrum support 15 are slotted at 16 and 17 respectively. Fe y movab e th n sa d s a the fi ing lever 18, which serves to connect said lift applying mechanism to the indicating mechanism 14.

The lift applying mechanism may include a handle member with double grips 19, and the hook 20 may be inserted in any convenient link of the chain 21. The lower end of the chain 21 may be attached to a spring housing 22. Compressible springs 23 may be fixed at their lower ends to the housing and at their upper ends to the cross-piece 24, carried by the rod 25, which passes through an opening in bottom of the housing and is pivoted at 26, to the lifting lever 18. By means of this construction. the sudden application of force by a person taking the exercise may be prevented, and the force exerted may be smoothly and gradually increased without shocks or sudden stresses.

Ordinarily the lifting lever 18 may be pivoted underneath the knife-edge of the fixed fulcrum 27 mounted in the fulcrum support 15, at a point about midway between the ends of said lifting lever 18. An upward pull on the handle 19 under these conditions will produce a substantially equal downward pull upon the knife-edge pivots 28, at the other end of the lifting lever and this downward pull will be transmitted through the short yoke 29 to the knife-edge 30, on the intermediate lever 31, pivoted at 32 and connected to the vertical rod 33 which in turn transmits the force to the beam 34 at the point 35, and will tend to raise the forward end of said beam. The amount of force required to be exerted by the individual at the handle 19 to make the lift will then be accurately indicated by the position of the adjustable poise 36 upon the scale beam 34. The end 37 of the scale beam is guided within the frame 38 having the limiting stops 39 and 40, said frame 38 being secured to the horizontal arm 41. If desired, a small sliding counterpoise 42 may be mounted upon the other end of said scale beam in order to permit calibration of the indicating mechanism and to offset the weight of the lifting mechanism.

To use the exerciser, a person takes his position upon the lifting platform and alternately raises and lowers the handle 19, as many times as desired.

In the operation of raising and lowering the handle 19, the scale beam 34 with its poise 36 is a iemate y evated and. 91?

pressed. The exercise of the muscles thus secured can be continued at the pleasure'of the operator. If it is desired to set the machine so that the scale beam may be raised with a less amount of exertion, as for example, to adapt the apparatus for use by women, children and invalids, the poise 36 may be shifted along said beam 3e the pivot 43 of said scale beam.

If, however, it is desired to set. the machine so that a greater force will be required to raise the scale beam and poise, this may be accomplished by moving the fulcrum 44 from its inactive position shown in dotted lines across the slot 17 into the position shown in full lines. (See Fig. 1.) The fulcrum may be moved in this manner by manipulating the handle e5, of the shifting lever 46 pivoted on the post 47 and having the other end attached to said fulcrum. lVith the fulcrum 44: in position, a much greater upward pull on the handle19 will be required to raise the scale beam. [If it is desired to exert a still reater liftin force,

the fulcrum 44 may be similarly shifted into position by operating the handle e5 of the corresponding lever'tif.

The scalebeam 34 maybe provided with three sets of graduatlons, each of which af' fords readings corresponding to one of the fulcra 27, 44 and t land one of which likewise affords readings corresponding to the weight applied to the'weighing mechanism.

In has been found convenient in, the present embodiment of this apparatus to soarrange the parts and weights that with a single beam andpoise a range of force from 1 to 2400 lbs. can be obtained withfulcra representlng mechan cal advantages of 1, 3. and

12. Y The'ends of the levers 46 and A6 upon.

which the handles areattached, may extend beyond the rear of the platform 10 for convenience of manipulation. In order to pro vide a firm and smoothsupportfor the feet of the individual using the apparatus, afoot platform 48, may be employed completely covering said fulcrum support .and levers.

Said foot platform may be provided with a slot 49 in registration'with the slots 16 and 17 and maybe securely attached to the base platform 10 by the side members 50, thus providing a flat foot rest free from inter-p V suit'ahle harness or yoke hooked into: the chain, as foreXample a belt provided with ference from the system of levers.

It may bedesirable in some. instances tov use the exercising apparatus in a sitting position. To enable this to. be doneconveniently and 'efiiciently I may mount an desired manner. ,To adjust it'to' theneeds of the individual this chairmay belocated adjacent the handle l9 in..any.position which my be to nd mast-convenient in the use or th ePPam e toward 'When'the liftinginechaiiism is not in use, the lever 18 may rest upon a knlfe-edge fulcruni the weight of the handle, chain 1I1-Tl57, bearing upon the intermediate lev r 31 at 58 and upon the'secondarylever 60 respectively. n The secondary lever 59 is pivoted at one end 61 to the base platform 10, andis provided at its other end with a knife-edge 62, located within the yoke 29, and bearing upon the cross-piece 63 of said yoke.

' The force due to the portion ofthe weight transmitted to the'secondary, lever at 60 will be communicated bymeans of the knife-edge intermediate lever 31. Theremaining portionof the weightupon'the platform 55 is directly transmitted to sa d intermediate lever by meanscof the knife-edge leg 56..

been found especially beneficial topersons i desiring to reduce weight. Individuals withhighhlood pressureor subject to hardening of the arteries may userthe apparatus with perfect safety by arranging for themselves,

under the advice of their physicians, apro- Z gressive series of exercises adjusted with absolute accuracy to the needs and limita tions their systems. I

vidual usina'the apparatus may 11ft either If d esired, the indi and yoke 29 to theknife-edge 30 of the with one hand or both. arld'by means of a liftsmay he carried ,out either at the same, force. or. at successlvely increasing forces.

It may be found advantageous to begin the lifts. at 4.0for 50 lbs. below the recordof the; individual made on i the previous Qcca jsion iandjto graduallyincrease them until the previous record is reached and, if inclination and strength permit, even surpassed.

To obtain the greatest benefit from the use of my apparatus it may be found desirable to tabulate the exact amount of force exerted from day to day for each of the various exercises. In this way records will be secured which will add to the exercises an interest which the ordinary systems of calisthenics do not possess. A desire to improve on previous records will be a positive and powerful incentive, and even after an individual has reached the acme of his powers, the daily test will accurately record whether or not he is retaining his strength.

One advantage of my apparatus is that the lifting force is opposed by a weight rather than by a spring, this construction affording the user a certain sense of satisfaction, due to the sudden yielding of the beam when the end point of the lift has been successfully reached. In exercising apparatus where the pull is transmitted through an indicatorspring, which does not yield suddenly when the end point is reached, no such enjoyable sensation can be experienced. Also it is difficult to make a pull of an exactly predetermined amount; and there is, therefore, constant danger of over-exertion. With my invention, however, no such danger exists, for the ope ation of adjusting the poise limits the maximum lift, and the sudden yielding of the beam gives the user a chance to relax his force.

In using my apparatus any desired system may be employed,the lift may either remain unchanged throughout the series of exercises, or it may be increased or decreased by definite amounts. Another advantage is to be found in the ease with which the amount of the lift can be varied at will either by shifting the poise or by changing the fulcrum of the lifting lever.

As will be evident, I have provided an apparatus in which an individual may carry out a wide variety of lifting exercises, and at the same time may ascertain conveniently and at all times the bodily weight, the knowledge of which may be a valuable indication of the benefit being derived from the exercises. By combining a weighing mechanism and exercising mechanism in the same unitary apparatus, I avoid the necessity of purchasing an expensive weighing machine in addition to a lifting machine.

I desire it to be understood that the specific apparatus illustrated in the drawings has been disclosed merely by way of example and that many modifications may be made therein within the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim:

1. In an exercising machine, a lifting lever operatively connected by reduction means to a weighted scale beam, two fulcra therefor said lever having two fulcrum-engaging points, one of said fulcra being shiftable out of the path of the lifting lever to render the second fulcrum operative.

2. In an exercising machine, a lifting lever operatively connected by reduction means to a weighted scale beam, and having a plurality of selectively shiftable fulcra for varying the force required to raise said weighted beam.

3. In an exercising machine, a lifting lever operatively connected by reduction means to a weighted scale beam, a plurality of selectively shiftable fulcra for said lever for varying the force required to raise said weighted beam, and levers connected with said fulcra for permitting said fulcra to be shifted into inoperative position.

4. In an exercising machine, a lifting lever operatively connected by reduction means to a weighted scale beam, a plurality of selectively shiftable fulcra for varying the force required to raise said weighted beam, and a horizontal lever connected with one of said fulcra for moving the same out of the path of said lifting lever.

5. In a combined lifting and weighing machine, lifting mechanism including a lifting lever and an adjustable handle, weigh ing mechanism including a weighing platform, and unitary means for indicating the amount of force exerted upon said lifting lever and the amount of weight upon said weighing platform said lifting lever and weighing mechanism being located upon opposite sides of said unitary means.

6. In a combined exercising and weighing apparatus, a lifting lever, an intermediate lever, weighing mechanism, said intermediate lever being connected to a scale beam, said lifting lever and weighing mechanism being connected to said intermediate lever at the same point thereof, whereby the single scale beam is adapted to indicate the force applied to the lifting lever and the weight applied to the wei hing mechanism.

7. In a combined lifting and weighing machine, scales for indicating the amount of lift and weight respectively, an intermediate lever. means for connecting said scales and said intermediate lever, a weighing platform, a lifting lever, and means whereby the weight upon said platform and the lift upon said lifting lever may be selectively transmitted through said intermediate lever and connections to said scales and indicated thereby.

8. In an exercising machine, a lifting lever. a weighted scale beam operatively connected thereto, a plurality of selectively shiftable fulcra for said lever to vary the mechanical advantage thereof, and means for siifting one of the fulcra.

9. In a combined lifting and weighing machine, a lifting lever, Weighing mechanism, and indicating mechanism, means whereby the weight or force may be selectively transmitted and indicated upon said indicating mechanism, and means for keeping the lifting lever disconnected from the indicating mechanism, Whenever it is desired to use the Weighing mechanism.

10. In a combined lifting and Weighing machine, a lifting lever, Weighing mechanism, and indicating mechanism, and'mea-ns whereby the Weight or force may be trans mitted and indicated upon said indicating mechanism, andmeans for supporting said lifting lever in inactive position Whenever it is desired to use said Weighing mechanism.

11. In an exercising machine, lifting mechanism, Weighing mechanism, and a combined lift and Weight indicating mechanism, for said lifting and weighing mechanisms, said indicating mechanism being provided With means adapted to suddenly yield to give a distinct signalof the end-point of the lift.

12.. In a portable. exercising machine, a movable platform, a fulcrum mounted upon 7 said platform, a lifting lever fulcrumed in said support, means for shifting the fulcrum of said lever, a foot platform coverlng said fulcrum support and ,Slllftlllg means, said lifting lever being attached at one end to lift indicating mechanism, and having force applying means flexibly connected to its other end.

r 13. Inan exercising machine, a lifting lever, a weighing mechanism, a force operated indicator, and an intermediate lever operatively connected With the indicator, and adapted to be selectively operated by the lifting lever or, the weighing mechanism, at will.

14. In an exercising and Weighing machine, lifting mechanism, Weighing mechanism, a combined lift and Weight indicator in operative connection With said mechanisms, and means for enabling a lift and Weight to be applied to the machine on different sides of said indicator.

15. In an exercising and Weighing machine, lifting and Weighing mechanism in separate operative connection With an indicater for the lifts and Weights applied to said machine, said indicator being housed in an upstanding frame which lies between the lifting and Weighing mechanisms.

16. In an exercising machine, a lifting lever operatively connected by reduction means to an indicating mechanism, a plurality of selectively shiftable fulcra for varying theforce required to actuate said indicating mechanlsm, and means for moving one of said fulcra out (if the path ofthe lifting lever. V

ln-testlmony whereof, I have affixed signature to th1s specification.

CLARENCE A. PERRY. 

